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James Thornton

Michael Berkeley talks to environmental lawyer and founder of ClientEarth James Thornton about the climate crisis, Zen Buddhism and James's love of the violin.

Michael Berkeley talks to the environmental lawyer James Thornton about tackling the climate crisis, about Zen Buddhism and about James's love of the violin.

Every day we’re bombarded with more bad news about the climate crisis, deadly air pollution, and our oceans filling up with plastic. So who will save our fragile planet? The UN? Governments? Scientists? Activists? If James Thornton is anything to go by, it might well be lawyers. As the founding CEO of ClientEarth, an international not-for-profit organisation, he holds governments and corporations to account and forces them to uphold environmental legislation.

Many musicians support the work of ClientEarth – David Gilmour donated the $21million raised from the sale of his guitars – and James chooses music with an environmental theme from his long-time collaborator Brian Eno. He talks to Michael about his lifelong passion for the violin and how playing it helps him keep his life in balance - he chooses Jascha Heifitz’s astonishing recording of Sibelius’s Violin Concerto. He is also an ordained Zen Buddhist priest and we hear a key Buddhist text set by the master of modern gamelan, Lou Harrison.

And James talks about why he prefers life in the UK to his native USA, not least because he was able to marry his long-term partner, the writer Martin Goodman. We hear the music by György Kurtág which they chose for their wedding.

Producer: Jane Greenwood
A Loftus production for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 3

Available now

36 minutes

Last on

Sun 2 Feb 2020 12:00

Music Played

  • Jean Sibelius

    Violin Concerto in D minor (3rd mvt: Allegro)

    Performer: Jascha Heifetz. Orchestra: Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Walter Hendl.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Der Holle Rache (The Magic Flute, Act 2)

    Singer: Lucia Popp. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Otto Klemperer.
  • Brian Eno

    Just Another Day

    Performer: Brian Eno.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Gottes Zeit ist die Allerbeste Zeit

    Performer: György Kurtág. Performer: Márta Kurtág. Music Arranger: György Kurtág.
  • Béla Bartók

    Sebes (Fast Dance) (Contrasts, 3rd mvt)

    Performer: Benny Goodman. Performer: Joseph Szigeti. Performer: Béla Bartók.
  • Lou Harrison

    La Koro Sutro (excerpt)

    Choir: Chamber Chorus of University of California, Berkeley. Ensemble: American Gamelan Ensemble. Conductor: Philip Brett.

Broadcast

  • Sun 2 Feb 2020 12:00

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